-
In old documents, a
non-final letter s was written as a long s
= ſ
For example:
mistaken » miſtaken
mistress » miſtreſs
myself » myſelf
last » laſt
parish » pariſh
persons » perſons
assisted » aſſiſted
such » ſuch
shipped » ſhipped
suspicious » ſuſpicious
This looks something like – but is not – a
letter f but without the full cross bar, and possibly
just a short horizontal stroke or nub on the left side of the letter.
The long s is, of course, pronounced like a
regular s.
The Times of London stopped using this form during 1802,
and
The Morning Chronicle after 1803
-
A house with two bays projecting from the main building,
giving an F shaped plan.
The lower bay is usually the porch and entrance.
Redacre House, Mytholmroyd is said to be one of the earliest F-plan
houses in Calderdale.
Built in 1712, Greenwood Lee is the latest-known F-plan house.
See
Halifax house and
Hall-and-cross-wing
| Factories Regulation Bill | Ref 1-F14 |
-
See
Ten Hours Bill
-
Legislation introduced to regulate child labour, the conditions of
work, the working hours, the safety, and the sanitary conditions in
the factories and workshops which had grown with the Industrial Revolution.
-
Factory Act [1802]:
children under 9 years of age were not allowed to work;
children may only work between 6:00 am and 9:00 pm;
children between 9 and 13 years of age may work up to 8 hours a day;
children between 14 and 18 years of age may work up to 12 hours a day
-
Factory Act [1833]:
children under 9 years of age were not allowed to work;
children between 9 and 12 years of age must receive 2 hours schooling
a day and work no more than 9 hours a day;
children between 14 and 18 years of age may work up to 12 hours a day
-
Factory Act [1844]:
each child must receive 3 hours schooling a day and worked no more
than 6½ hours a day, either in the morning or the afternoon
-
Factory Act [1850]:
women and children may only work between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm in
summer, and between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm in winter, and up to 2:00_pm
on Saturday
-
Factory Act [1878]:
children under 10 were not allowed to work;
children between 10 and 14 years of age may only work for half days
See
Factory Fine Fund,
Half-timer,
Health & Morals of Apprentices in Cotton Mills Act [1802] and
Ten Hours Act [1847]
| Factory Fine Fund | Ref 1-1988 |
-
A fund which came from fines imposed under Factory Acts.
The money was paid in grants given to public day schools where
children, who worked in the factories, were educated.
In 1860, St Mary's National School, Halifax received a grant of
£15.
This & associated entries use material contributed by Stan Mapstone
-
From the 1830s, details of the mills and factories were produced to
enable the government to regulate the industry.
The reports were discontinued in 1905
-
The authority to carry out works in and around a church
-
Aka Bunt.
A pack made up of bundles of cloth, wool, or cotton wrapped in a pack
sheet and fixed with wooden pegs or pricks.
The pack was then loaded on to the packhorse and tied with a
wanty rope
| Failure of issue | Ref 1-2304 |
-
A term used in wills and deeds to indicate that – in the event of
there being no children born to or surviving the deceased
person – the property will go to a third party.
See
Issue
| Fairbridge Society | Ref 1-1058 |
-
A 20th century organisation which took British children to Australia
and the colonies to train as farmers
-
The use of specially trained falcons and hawks to hunt and capture
birds or small mammals was introduced to Britain from continental
Europe in Saxon times.
The Normans, Tudors, and Stuarts were fond of falconry, but the sport
fell into disuse after the Civil War.
See
Birdcage,
Hunting and
John King
| Falling sickness | Ref 1-846 |
-
An alternative name for Epilepsy.
So called because the patient falls suddenly to the ground
-
A term used by Bede and equivalent to a hide
-
-
-
An image that is added to, usually placed above, a coat of arms, as
shown
here.
See
Landed Gentry Pedigrees
This & associated entries use material contributed by Joanne Backhouse
-
| Family History Center | Ref 1-740 |
-
Abbr: FHC.
A research facility provided at Latter Day Saints locations.
The Center at Huddersfield is at
12 Halifax Road
Birchencliffe
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England
Phone: 01484 454573
Hours: Tues 10 am-3 pm; Wed 10 am-3 pm, Thurs 10 am-3 pm; Friday 6.00 pm-9.00 pm by appointment only
-
A paid worker on a mediæval estate, as distinct from the
voluntary/compulsory boon workers.
The plural is famuli.
The word comes directly from the Latin famulus [a servant]
-
A type of weaving which was used to create a decorative effect, and
could often involve silk or cotton
-
An archaic term for a church or temple
-
A fixed sum or rent – usually paid annually – for the right to
collect all revenues from the land.
The lord of the manor could farm land to vassals, receiving a
fixed annual rent in place of the normal feudal obligation
-
Unit of currency before decimalisation equivalent to ¼d,
one-quarter of a penny.
Until 1279, when Edward I introduced the first silver farthing
coin, the token was simply a penny cut into four quarters.
In 1613, Lord Harington was given a patent to produce a copper
farthing – these were known as Haringtons.
The copper farthing coin introduced by Charles II in 1672
carried the portrait of Britannia – see token.
The farthing was discontinued in 1956.
In 1279, Edward I issued a half farthing – see
qu – as did Victoria in 1839 along with a quarter
farthing and a third farthing in 1844.
Elizabeth I issued coins and ¾d.
The name is from the Old English term for one-fourth – compare
riding
| Fastening penny | Ref 1-1678 |
-
At a hiring Fair, the bargain between worker and employer was
sealed with a sum of money known as a fastening penny
-
By an oath of fealty, a feudal tenant or vassal swore
allegiance or fidelity to a lord.
This was done at a ceremony known as homage
-
A machine for mixing and combining wool.
See
Fearnoughting
-
A stage in cloth-making which removed knots from the wool and
aligned the fibres in one direction.
When mechanised, this was done by a Fearnaught machine
-
An inheritance or bequest which has no impositions, limitations or
conditions in its use
-
Introduced about 1182 – possibly by Hubert Walter – these were
records of decisions and judgements concerning the ownership of land
and property.
These may be the result of actions to determine title in the absence
of documents.
3 copies of the judgements were written on a single scroll, then cut
in irregular lines to avoid forgery, and placed on file at the Court of Common Pleas.
They are useful in researching surnames
See
Final concord
-
The element is found in early names and documents, and is equivalent
to the forms felt, field
-
A form of the word fieldfare
-
In mediæval law, any serious violation of the contract between the
lord of the manor and his vassals.
It came to mean any crime against the King's peace, and has come to
mean any serious crime
-
Mechanical processes such as heating, steaming, applying pressure and
vibration, converted woollen fabric into felt.
It is thought that making felt was introduced before weaving
-
Aka Feld, Field.
Used in place names – such as Stansfield and Langfield – the
element [not surprisingly] means a field or a piece of land
suitable for cultivation
-
Any female, woman, or wife.
A feme sole is an unmarried woman or a married woman who has
property independent of her husband.
See
Baron & feme
-
A soldier who was liable only for service at home
-
A low, metal frame which was placed in front of an open fire to catch
sparks and coals.
Some were padded on the upper edge and served as a seat.
See
Fire guard,
Fire screen and
Hearth tin
-
The Fenian Brotherhood was an Irish Republican organisation
founded in the USA in the 1850s.
In December 1881, the number of men known to belong to the
brotherhood were reported.
See
Irish riots,
Irish immigrants and
Sun Dial, Brighouse
-
A piece of rejected or faulty cloth.
Usually a small piece of material.
It was sometimes specifically the last 2 ft of a piece of
cloth.
It was often used by the weaver to make his own, or his family's,
clothes
-
The conveyance of freehold estate – between a feoffee and a
feoffor – by a formal transfer of possession.
The new owner of the property may sell it or pass it on to his heirs.
An early form was known as feoffment with livery of seisin
was conducted on the land to be transferred when a bunch of grass, a
twig or piece of earth was handed over as the parties recited that
the transfer was being made
-
A payment in land equivalent to one night's food and upkeep for the
court.
Around the time of the Norman Conquest, this had been commuted to
cash.
The Old English word means a farm
-
A mediæval unit of land equivalent to ¼ of a virgate
-
The right to carry persons and their goods across a river in boats,
and to charge a toll
-
The fertility of the land was often improved by spreading crushed
bone-meal, shoddy, and night-soil.
Night-soil – human fæces – would be used for crops such
as kale and cabbage during the first year.
In the following year, it would be used for root vegetables, such as
potatoes, carrots, swedes and turnips
-
Iron rings with chains attached, which are placed around the ankle of
a convict to restrict movement.
Several convicts may be chained together to form an iron-gang or
chain-gang
-
A mediæval form of social organisation based on a land and
land-owning hierarchy of authority, rights, and power from the
monarch downwards.
In return for military service the monarch allowed powerful vassals
to hold land – the manor – to administer justice, and to levy
taxes; lower down the hierarchy, the serfs worked on their manor
lands belonging to their lord in return for the rights to cultivate
a part of the land for themselves.
See
Boonwork,
Lord of the manor and
Sergeant
-
Any disease or infection of which the symptoms are a high
temperature – possibly accompanied by thirst and loss of appetite
-
In printed and handwritten documents up to the 18th
century, ff was used instead of a capital F, as in
Rev W. D. ffrench
Joseph ffryear
As a Victorian affectation, this form is still retained in some
surnames
-
The hair-like filaments of a textile material, such as the fibres
of cotton and silk, or the individual hairs of wool
-
An estate or lands granted to a vassal by his lord after swearing
fealty promising to serve the lord.
See
Grant in fee,
Knight's fee and
Money-fief
-
Also Felt, Feld.
This Old English element is used in many local place names.
The word was also used for any unenclosed open land – without
bog, trees or other features – as distinct from the permanently
fenced close, and may also imply that the land was used for
agriculture.
In many cases, the word is often written as feild – and names
such as Stansfeild are often found
-
Aka Terrier
-
From the 16th century, many fields and other pieces of land were
given individual names, and the practice increased with the arrival
of enclosures.
Certain elements – such as
broad, butt, gore
- may indicate the shape, nature or width of the field.
Although many hedges and field boundaries have been removed, the line
of the boundary is often indicated by trees which are now left
standing in the middle of a field – as in the illustrative photograph.
Some field-names are still retained in local place names.
See
Ganny and
Names
-
Also Fellfire.
A game bird
-
A cloth with a raised pattern, such as damask.
See
Alpaca figures and
French figures
-
Another name for the hazelnut
-
17th/18th century slang term for a thief, a pickpocket
| Filiation order | Ref 1-1950 |
-
Aka Bastardy bond
| Film photography | Ref 1-F38 |
-
Early photographs were produced on metal or glass plates.
In 1884, these were superseded by gelatine film.
When it was found to be too fragile, gelatine film was replaced by
highly-flammable nitrate-based films.
In 1939, a non-flammable plastic-based safety film was
introduced.
Roll film was introduced in 1889
-
A document recording a fictitious legal case which was used to prove
the right of a purchaser to property.
The document began with the phrase:
hic est finalis concordia
this is the final concord
3 copies were made: 2 copies were identical whilst the third – the
foot of the fine – was kept by the Court of Common Pleas
-
This was originally a document recording a legal decision.
The word is related to the Latin fines, meaning an end, a
conclusion.
The document comprised two parts, each being a copy of the decision,
one being given to each party.
Later a third copy – known as the feet of fines – was added for
retention by the legal authorities.
It could also be a fee paid when conveying property.
The fees were recorded in Fines Books
Our modern concept of a fine was known as an amercement
-
A book in which fines were recorded, showing the ownership of
houses and land
-
A road sign in the shape of a hand with fingers pointing the way.
See
Milestone
-
The final stage in cloth-making
-
A plate indicating the name of the company who insured the house.
These were often numbered and bore the year for which the property
was insured.
Important in times when insurance companies had their own private
fire-fighting forces
-
An iron frame to prevent logs rolling off a fire, or in which to burn
logs
-
A metal screen which was placed in front of an open fire to catch
sparks and coals.
See
Fender and
Fire screen
-
The fire was used for cooking in earlier halls, and as a means of
heating houses which appeared in the 15th century and was common
until the 17th century.
A hood – with a vent – was built against a wall to let the smoke out
of the hall.
The partition wall behind the fire gave rise to the hearth-passage
design.
A fire window often indicates where a fire hood was present.
The fireplace with an external chimney became popular at the
end of the 16th century
-
An ornamental screen, often embroidered and mounted on a vertical
stand, which protected a person from the heat of an open fire.
See
Fender,
Fire guard and
Hearth tin
-
A small window – typically with two lights – which threw light on to
the ingle-nook area beneath a fire hood
-
The right of the tenants of a manor to gather wood for fuel.
See
Bote
-
A small cask, and a unit of 9 gallons = ¼ of a
barrel
-
-
The name given to any one of the people to be transported
to Australia on the first fleet of nine ships which left
Portsmouth with 1493 passengers – 586 male, 192 female, and the rest
were crew, naval officers and their families
See
Mary Greenwood,
Lady Penrhyn and
Scarborough
-
An abnormal passage within the human body.
Dr Richard Hooke died from one such condition
| Five Mile Act [1665] | Ref 1-125 |
-
Passed in October 1665 to prevent clergymen who had been expelled for
refusing to obey the Act of Uniformity from living within five
miles of their old church, effectively ejecting dissenting
clergymen from the towns.
The penalty was a fine of £40.
Oliver Heywood was one of many ejected under the act
-
A unit of volume – typically for beers, wine and spirits – equal to 2
pints = 1 quart
-
German anti-aircraft defence = flugabwehrkanone
-
A simple torch of burning wood
-
A type of cloth made from carded wool or worsted yarn.
See
Flannelette
-
A type of cotton cloth with a texture similar to Flannel.
It is highly flammable.
Flannelette was used for making nightdresses and – in the 19th
century – led to a great many deaths when children's clothing caught
fire
-
An old name for a small pond.
See
Ball flash
-
A movable weir – or similar device – which carries boats through on a
flush of water.
These were superseded by the pound lock
-
A candle with a short stem and a broad base which fits into a flat
candle-holder
-
An alternative name for a selion
-
Aka Line.
The plant is used to produce the fibres for linen.
See
Heckling and
Scutching
-
A tool for cutting peat
-
The seizure and possession of the goods of a fugitive
-
A room where salted meats and bacon were stored.
There was a flesh chamber at Shibden Hall which was reached
from the Red Room
-
A hard tuft of wool which is rejected for the manufacture of cloth.
In 1533, Henry VIII sent a commission to the West Riding to
look into the practice of mixing flocks with the wool.
A list was published of 282 Halifax clothiers who had between
½ and 3 pieces of their cloth condemned.
See
Upper Bradley Mill, Stainland
-
Aka Cart-tail flogging.
A form of punishment in which the felon was carried around the
streets of the town in a cart – or following a cart – and being
whipped as he/she went along.
Ling Roth describes how
every Saturday at high noon, a man would be tied to a cart and
flogged from the Waterhouse Arms to the Upper George.
On arrival at the Inn, salt was rubbed into the man's lacerated skin
The last person in Britain to be flogged to death
was Dangerfield, an informant of the Popish Plot, in
1685.
The last person to be flogged in the district was Grace Holden in
the 1850s.
In 1881, flogging was abolished in the armed services.
See
Scourge and
Whipping
-
A lock located at the high-water end of a navigation cut.
Both top and bottom gates are kept open except in times of high river
levels
-
-
-
When introduced by Edward III – along with the half-florin,
and quarter-florin, and the noble – the gold coin was worth about 6
shillings or 6s 8d.
The name comes from the fiorino d'oro, a gold coin issued in
Florence, which became a standard unit of currency in the 1600s.
The image of an animal on the coin gave it its popular name of
leopard.
There was also the quarter florin, worth 6d introduced in 1344.
A silver florin coin worth 2/- was introduced in 1849 and remained a
unit of currency after decimalisation, when it was equivalent to 10p
and was legal tender until 1991.
A double florin worth 4/- was introduced in 1887
-
In the 19th century, millers and manufacturers frequently used
cheaper substitutes in order to add weight and bulk to the flour they
produced, adulterating it with plaster of Paris, bean flour, chalk or
alum.
Such adulteration led to problems of malnutrition.
In particular, alum produced bowel problems, constipation or
chronic diarrhoea, which was often fatal for children.
See
Clifton flour,
Sugden's Crown Flour,
Todmorden Flour Mill Society and
Woodside Flour Mill, Elland
-
A unit of volume equal to 1 ounce of water = 28·413
millilitres.
The fluid ounce is still valid as a unit for trade in the UK, following
legislation of 1994/5 which replaced some imperial units by metric
units
-
Aka the bloody flux.
A name for a form of dysentery caused by the
bacteria shigella.
It is spread by food contaminated with fæcal matter, such as
fruit collected from the ground in orchards where cattle graze
-
A horse-drawn canal boat which used relays of horses and
travelled by day and night
| Fly Sheets Controversy | Ref 1-752 |
-
A Methodist controversy of 1846-1852, in which a series of
pamphlets was published, criticising the dominant rôle which
Rev Jabez Bunting played in Wesleyan Methodism.
Schism resulted after 3 ministers refused to answer questions about
the fly sheets – the Wesleyan Methodist Reformers was established
-
Invented and patented in 1733 by John Kay, this was the
earliest of the great inventions which revolutionised the textile
industry.
The weaver pulled a cord which triggered leather (or wooden)
hammers to propel the shuttle, first left, then right, across the
loom-gate and the width of the cloth.
Thitherto, the shuttle had been passed by hand from side to side
through alternate warp threads – see picker.
The flying shuttle – or fly shuttle or spring
shuttle – replaced the old weaving process of passing the weft
through the warp.
It also meant that the weaver could produce cloth which was wider
than his own arm-span.
When weaving broad cloth, two workers had to be employed to throw
the shuttle from one end to the other.
With the flying shuttle, the amount of work a weaver could do was
more than doubled, and the quality of the cloth was also improved.
It was widely used in Yorkshire from 1763.
This led to an increased demand for yarn and a corresponding demand
for weavers and for spinning machinery – such as John Wyatt's
roller-spinning machine and James Hargreaves's spinning jenny
-
In place names, this is derived from Old English and means
an enclosure for animals, typically sheep – see Pinfold.
The name is also used for a small group of cottages, and an enclosed
courtyard and houses
-
Grazing sheep brought from open pastures in an enclosed area so that
the manure could be gathered and used as fertiliser.
Often an overnight practice
-
| Follies of Halifax Corporation | Ref 1-735 |
-
Over the years, Halifax Corporation and its various successors have
made a number of decisions which can only be described as folly, faux
pas, Philistine and barbaric, and just unpopular and short-sighted.
See
Lost houses in the district
-
These held the holy water which was used in baptism, and generally
stood just inside the church door.
The holy water was blessed at Easter for use throughout the
year.
Early Saxon and Norman fonts were quite large when children and
adults were baptised by immersion.
Later mediæval fonts were smaller and octagonal in plan.
Fonts often had a locked lid to prevent the holy water being stolen
for witchcraft.
In 1236, it was compulsory to have a locked cover in the font.
Later font covers – such as that at Halifax Parish Church – were
very elaborate and were raised by pulleys and balances.
In 1644, Parliament passed a law forbidding the use of holy water in
churches and chapels.
Eventually, fonts were simply shallow bowls.
See
Elland Parish Church Font,
Halifax Parish Church Font Cover and
Witch mark
-
An Imperial measure unit of length equivalent to 12 inches,
30·48 cms.
The word is abbreviated to ft, and the symbol ' is also
used; thus a length of 2 feet 6 inches could be written
as 2' 6" or 2 ft 6 ins.
The foot is based upon the length of the human foot.
In Roman time, it was about 11½ inches, and in Old English
times, it was just under 10 inches.
The foot is still valid as a unit for trade in the UK, following
legislation of 1994/5 which replaced some imperial units by metric
units
See
Cubic foot,
Fotmal and
Square foot
-
A narrow platform or walkway attached to canal lock gates
-
A highwayman who went around on foot
-
A right of way for the public on foot only
-
During the 16th and 17th centuries, foreign coins – such as
Doubloon,
Ducat,
Escudo,
Louis,
Louis d'or,
Moidore,
Pistole,
Real,
Reis,
and
Spanish Dollar
- were widely used in Britain on account of the scarcity of British
coins.
From 1561, an Act of Parliament made it a crime – known
as Misprision of Treason – to manufacture counterfeit foreign
coins.
This encouraged the work of the coiners.
Charles Montagu undertook a revision of British coinage in 1699.
See
Banknotes
-
Originally, an area for hunting deer and other game, and not
necessarily woodland.
Forest law demanded severe penalties for poaching, stealing
and trespass and was imposed by the forest's own courts and
officials – verderers
-
-
To corner – that is, buy goods which are bound for
market – with a view to reselling wholesale them at a higher price
than on the open market.
In 1337, the township of Halifax was accused of concealing
forestallers.
In the early 19th century, a deputy constable called John Carpmael
and a beadle named Joshua Milner arrested, and imprisoned in
Dungeon Street, a farmer who had bought butter at 17d a pound
and later sold it for 17½d pence a pound.
See
Regrate
-
See
Ancient Order of Foresters,
Elland Juvenile Foresters Society and
Royal Foresters
| Forinsec Service | Ref 1-930 |
-
Forinsec service was an obligation under feudal law, a service to be
performed away from the holding of the mesne lord for his superior.
It included foreign military service, providing labour, and certain
payments
This & associated entries use material contributed by Joanne Backhouse
-
A fine paid by a serf to the lord of the manor when the serf's
daughter marries a man from another manor
See
Merchet
-
A church bell – or passing bell – tolled on someone's death
-
The word for two weeks is derived from the words fourteen
nights.
Compare Sennight
-
A unit of weight equal to about 19 hundredweight
-
A unit of length equal to a foot
-
A unit of weight for lead, equal to 70 pounds
-
An 18th century name for an area of housing occupied by the poor
-
A bed with a canopy supported by four posts, one at each corner of
the bed.
It is said that these were introduced to protect the bed from dust
and insects falling from the ceiling / roof of the room
-
A general term for a piece of machinery whose design is based upon a
frame or framework.
See
Frame-breaking and
Water-frame
-
The wilful destruction of frames and other machinery, as
done by the Luddites' outbreak in Nottinghamshire in 1811.
In a 3-week period, more than 200 stocking-frames were
destroyed.
This was central to the plot of Charlotte Brontë's novel
Shirley.
See
Frame-breaking Bill and
John Hill
| Frame-breaking Bill [1811] | Ref 1-1003 |
-
Proposed by Lord Liverpool to make frame-breaking a capital
offence.
See
Luddites
-
A type of tenure by which religious bodies held lands granted to
them, usually on condition of praying for the soul of the donor, and
often for the souls of his parents and heirs
This & associated entries use material contributed by Joanne Backhouse
-
Also ffranklan.
A freeman who was not of noble birth, and who held his land in free
socage.
A freeholder – one having large holdings of land and eligible to
certain dignities.
A gentleman.
One of Chaucer's Pilgrims was a franklin.
From the 16th century, the name Yeoman was used
This & associated entries use material contributed by Joanne Backhouse
-
From the 11th century, this was a mediæval system of collective
responsibility whereby every male member of a tithing aged 12 or
over was – on pain of fine or other punishment – answerable for the
good behaviour of the others.
Each group had to attend a court – called a view of
frankpledge – which was held by their lord in order to
demonstrate their obligations had been met.
See
Chief Pledge
-
The right to hunt small game.
This was usually granted by the King.
See
Warren
-
A free website with information about births, marriages and deaths
-
Someone who was born as a freeman
-
A free website providing access to census information
-
Land held by a freeholder free of duty to the lord of the manor.
After death, freehold tenure could pass to anyone named in the
deceased's will.
See
Relief and
Yeoman
-
A man who is not bound to the lord of the manor, but may owe rents
and obligations to the lord.
See
Bondman,
Ceorl,
Freedman,
Tenant at will and
Thane
-
A free website allowing you to search parish registers
-
A type of figured cloth.
Records for Akroyd's mill show that they produced the fabric
in 1834
-
Aka Syphilis
| French Revolution | Ref 1-472 |
-
[1789-1799]
A period of unrest in France when popular protest resulted in the
execution of the monarch and the establishment of the French Republic.
The unrest in France had economic consequences in Britain and started
off fears of republicanism here.
Many local military groups were established to pre-empt such activity.
See
John Baines,
James Edwards,
Guillotine,
Jacobin,
Etienne Edme Jarry and
Unitarianism
-
-
-
A heavy woollen fabric with a long nap.
See
Frizing
-
A seat in which a frith man claiming the right of sanctuary
had to sit
-
Aka Frithborh.
A security for keeping the peace, a frankpledge
-
Aka
Friezing,
Frising,
and
Frizzing.
A finishing process for woollen cloth carried out by a friezer.
The cloth is passed between 2 boards – each measuring about
120 inches by 15 inches, one of which is coated with a paste of glue,
gum arabic, sand, with a little aqua vitæ, or urine.
It then passes over a beam, or drawer, which is covered in metal
pins, much like a card.
This raises the nap of the cloth and produces small burrs on the
surface of the material.
The cloth was moved by water-power or horse-power.
See
James Walton
This & associated entries use material contributed by Alan Longbottom
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An axe for working wood
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A kind of porridge made from wheat boiled in milk.
Possibly with sugar, cinnamon, rum or spirits added.
It was traditionally eaten at Christmas.
The name comes from the Latin frumentum meaning corn
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A soft clay-like mineral which is able to adsorb and absorb
impurities and is used – in its dried and powdered form – in
fulling wool and cloth.
The clay may be blue, grey or yellow in colour.
The mineral was formed by the deposit of fine volcanic ash in water,
and a major source of the clay was around Maidstone in Kent.
The powder was essential to the British cloth-making industry and, in
the 17th century, laws were passed to ban export of the mineral.
It is still used today in the textile industry and in the
purification of oils.
See
Bracken
| Fullers' Company | Ref 1-490 |
-
A livery company originally for fullers.
In 1528, the company joined the
Shearmen's Company
to form the Clothworkers' Company
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Aka
fretting,
lecking,
milling,
walking,
waulking,
and
weeting.
The process of cleaning, shrinking and thickening woven cloth by
matting the surface fibres together.
The piece was soaked in lant and then beaten or trampled in a
stream or a trough of water to make the fibres felt together.
Fuller's earth was added to remove any soap and oil.
Potash produced from burned bracken was also use as a detergent.
The process was a strenuous process was carried out by a
fuller or a walker.
Domestic manufacturers carried this out at home by hand (or by foot),
but water-powered fulling mills in the district offered a service
to small producers.
See
Roger the Fuller and
Fullers' Company
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The process of fulling – shrinking and thickening woven cloth by
matting the surface fibres together – was originally done by hand, or
by treading the cloth underfoot in a stream or a trough of water.
Water-powered mills – in which the cloth was beaten by large wooden
mallets known as fulling stocks which were worked by a
waterwheel – were introduced in the 12th century, against
much opposition reminiscent of the Luddites.
Mills were prohibited in London between 1298 and 1417, in favour of
hand-fulling.
The hammers reproduced the action of treading the cloth
underfoot – giving the mill its older name walk mill.
In the dual economy, this stage of the processing could not be done
on a small scale.
The fulling mill was often owned by the Lord of the
Manor – where a man was obliged to full his cloth – and also
served as the corn mill.
It would be leased to a walker or a fuller.
Many fulling mills were former corn mills.
The fulling mill attracted weavers and cloth-making centres grew up
around the mills.
The Halifax fulling mill was situated along the Hebble near
North Bridge.
In 1758, Watson recorded 39 fulling mills in Halifax parish.
From the 18th century, there were fulling mills at many
places – usually the larger towns – including
Brighouse,
Elland,
Hebden Bridge,
Heptonstall and
Luddendenfoot.
The rotary fuller was introduced around 1840
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The large wooden hammers which beat the cloth in a fulling mill.
These were driven by a waterwheel
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Aka Hearth tax.
This name was used in Domesday Book
| Funeral biscuit | Ref 1-1086 |
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Aka Finger biscuit.
A sponge finger measuring about 6 in by 1½ in.
Packets of these were handed out at funerals in the 18th century.
Some families specialised in baking such biscuits.
See
Spice cake
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Aka Burial Club.
A formal, or informal, 19th century insurance scheme – a friendly society – which collected and invested members' subscriptions to
cover the costs of private funeral expenses for burials of members
and their family.
See
Old Town Club Houses and
Wadsworth Club Houses
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Aka Flatt, Shot, Shutt.
A unit of length = 220 yards = 10 chains = 1006
links = 40 rods = 1/8th mile = 664
feet.
It was originally the length of a furrow in a common open field, and
the name means furrow long.
An area of land measuring one chain by one furlong
is one acre
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Originally, a cloth with linen warp and cotton weft, but later,
the name was used for any tightly-woven, thick, twilled cotton cloth
with a short nap, and often in dark colours.
See
Moss family,
John Ashworth,
English Fustian Manufacturing Company,
Hebden Bridge Fustian Manufacturing Co-operative Society,
Pecket Shed and
St George's Square, Hebden Bridge
This & associated entries use material contributed by Jackie Wood
